Tag Archives: gifts

Forward Movement’s Holiday Gift Guide 2024

Looking for the perfect gift for the book lovers in your life? We’re here to help. 

Forward Movement has a rich collection of accessible, inspiring books that can help you begin or continue your spiritual journey.

Take a look at our curated recommendations for this holiday season.

The impact of your gift stretches farther when you purchase directly from Forward Movement. Each purchase supports our ministry to provide free books and devotionals to prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, and military bases. Order today – and see more of our bestselling books – at forwardmovement.org.

Beautiful prayers for any time or place:

No matter where you are or what’s on your mind, it’s always a good time to pray. Prayers New and Old and Prayers for All Occasions are two beautiful books that make prayer on the go easier. These volumes offer a diverse collection of prayers for family, life events, church work, and other unique occasions. Their pages are full of your favorite psalms, intercessions, praises and thanksgivings from The Book of Common Prayer, along with new prayers to enhance your prayer collection. With faux leather cover, gold edges, and ribbon, these are perfect gifts that introduces young and old to experience the richness of prayer.

Jump into learning more about the Bible:

Perhaps there are disciples in your life who want to know more about scripture than just what they hear in church on Sunday – but they don’t want to start. One of our bestselling Bible study books may be the perfect entry point into a deeper journey of learning.

A Journey with Luke Bible Challenge contains bite-sized reflections on the gospel we’ll hear in church throughout 2025. And we have more where that came from, in all 10 books of the Bible Challenge series.

Or you could travel through the entirety of scripture through a new lens, accompanied by the women of the Bible. Bible Women identifies every woman who speaks in the Bible, from the familiar to the surprising. The expanded second edition features new ways to use and study the words and wisdom, updated content for today’s context, and 93 prayers—one for each woman who speaks in the Bible.

For loved ones young and old:

Is someone in your life a young adult, new college graduate, or in the midst of a life transition? This may be the perfect time for a devotional that avoids saccharine-sweet stories or guilt-tripping demands. Devotions for People Who Don’t Do Devotions is a lighthearted yet earnest invitation to look for God’s hand at work in your day-to-day life. Buy two copies and read along with your loved one!

For smaller disciples – even those too young to read – check out these new playing cards, The BIG Way of Love for Kids. The cards guide children to explore Bible stories, listen, pray, learn, and practice. They can play alone and with friends, church teachers, or family. The BIG Way of Love works for all kinds of young children and is designed to grow with them. Because we’re never too old or too young to walk the Way of Love with Jesus.

Welcome guests at Christmas with these helpful resources

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Advent begins tomorrow – the season of preparing for Christmas. Whether you’re pulling out the extra chairs to expand your worship space, or shopping for Christmas gifts for family near and far, you are likely preparing to welcome guests and visitors in the weeks to come.

In the church, Christmas worship services are among the most-attended in nearly every congregation each year – not just for regular worshipers, but for folks who are new to the church or are visiting with family. Here at Forward Movement, we know how important the work of welcome is. And we want to help. Here are a few ideas for gifts or giveaways that church leaders and individuals can share with visitors this Christmas.

For families of all ages: “Christmas: It’s A Season” Calendar

Contrary to secular culture, in the Christian tradition, the twelve days of Christmas begin on Christmas day and the season continues through January 6, the Epiphany, when we recall the coming of the Wise Men to honor Jesus’s birth. With this calendar, you can be more intentional about celebrating the full season of Christmas.

Sold in shrink-wrapped packs of 25, these make a perfect giveaway on the way out the door from Christmas Eve worship. Break out the crayons and markers at home to decorate this calendar with the whole family.

For children: The BIG Way of Love for Kids Playing Cards

Jesus loved to be with children, so we are thrilled to offer a new discipleship resource: The BIG Way of Love for Kids. It’s a set of playing cards and activities to help our kids to become the BIG, beloved children of God they were created to be.

Order sets of playing cards in the custom box (or print the free digital coloring sheets). The cards (or sheets) guide children to explore Bible stories, listen, pray, learn, and practice. They can play alone and with friends, church teachers, or family.

These cards are perfect stocking stuffers for a grandchild, godchild, or young friend. They would also be a good addition to a church nursery or children’s chapel. Jesus meets us everywhere where we go, so this resource is easy to take everywhere you go. Because we’re never too old or too young to walk the Way of Love with Jesus.

For adults: Forward Day by Day

Of course, we hope each Christmas visitor takes their encounter with Jesus into the new year. For nearly a century, Forward Movement has provided a tool to reflect and pray in the midst of a busy life: Forward Day by Day. The classic pocket-size version in English or Spanish is about the size of a cell phone, but thinner – easy to slip into a pocket or purse on the way out of church on Christmas.

This festive season may be a good time for your church to start a bulk subscription, or just order a few 10-packs to restock for visitors. For those of you shopping for family or friends, consider a gift subscription in their name. Your loved one will receive four issues of insightful meditations, mailed to their address throughout the year.

The work of welcome – extending a friendly hand to visitors and newcomers – is an essential part of evangelism. Welcoming visitors to your church or home this Christmas can invite them to form a relationship with your community, and perhaps even deepen their relationship with Jesus. We pray that everyone who walks through your doors in this holy season is blessed for the year ahead.

Gifts for Children and Families

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Growing Christians: Celebrating Saints & Holy Days at Home
This book is the perfect guide to celebrate at home all of the important holy days in the Episcopal Church. The book features the best of our reflections from Grow Christians, our faith at home blog, on major feasts, holy days, and fasts. Each entry includes the appointed psalms and lessons for the day. Following the readings are reflections by a diverse group of authors: moms and dads, godparents and grandparents, friends and youth group leaders, all bound by their commitment to helping form young people in the faith.

The Spy on Noahs’ Ark
Bible stories take on new life with this collection of eyewitness accounts from surprise sources: a dove, a lion, a stallion, and more. Using the ancient and imaginative art of storytelling, this book will delight children of all ages and begs to be read aloud. Adults will also enjoy these stories, and can use them to enrich personal and group Bible study. Discussion questions for children and adults are included at the end of each story, making it the perfect book for a church “On the Same Page” reading group or other intergenerational program.

The spy at Jacob's LadderThe Spy at Jacob’s Ladder
Have you ever wondered what stories stones might tell or whether a fishing boat can be friends with a faithful sailor? In the kingdom of God, every single thing has a story to tell and a song to sing—donkeys, sewing needles, secret caves, and water jugs! From the author who introduced you to The Spy on Noah’s Ark, this collection of stories, told from the inside out, are sure to stir up your heart and mind as you read along, meeting old friends and making new ones. You are invited to be a spy too at some of the most beloved stories of the Bible, placing yourself as participant and witness to God’s unfolding and unfailing grace and love.

The Path Family StorybookThe Path: Family Storybook
Explore the greatest stories of all as a family. This storybook recounts the major stories of the Bible, from creation to revelation, in a way that engages children (and those who love them!). The book features dynamic storytelling by best-selling author Lindsay Hardin Freeman, compelling questions by editor Melody Wilson Shobe, and original illustrations by artist Roger Speer. Can be read independently or would be a great companion to the Facilitator’s Guide.

Meet the Saints
The Meet the Saints: Family Storybook provides twenty-four stories of saints for families to read together, colorful child-friendly illustrations, thoughtful questions for family conversations, prayers to pray together, and coloring pages for children to enjoy. Join a journey with the saints and your family, learning more about the monks, missionaries, prophets, doctors, evangelists, and more who have led us on our way.

Grandpa's TentGrandpa’s Tent
Written by two Episcopal priests—and mothers—Grandpa’s Tent is a companion for children and families as they experience death, perhaps for the first time. The book explains what the Bible says about death—and life after death—and walks gently and honestly through the process of saying goodbye, attending the funeral, and grieving a loved one. The book also includes helpful talking points for adults to discuss death with children.

Family and Table gracesFamily + Table Graces
When we pray before meals, we follow the example of Jesus, who prayed with his disciples during The Last Supper. Table Graces and Family Graces each include 30 prayers, and are designed to stand on a tabletop or counter with the same prayer viewed on both sides. Pray together at your parish hall, church school, conference center, lunchroom, and home with these easy-to-read study books. Includes 1 copy each of the following:
– Table Graces
– Family Graces

Spiritually enriching Christmas gifts

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The Way of Love: A Practical Guide to Following Jesus
One path to the Way of Love is through seven key actions: Turn. Learn. Pray. Worship. Bless. Go. Rest. This practical guide explores these words in the context of our life of faith and offers encouragement to begin or deepen spiritual practices to strengthen our journey with Jesus. Includes reflection questions, journal prompts, and a guide for developing a personal rule of life.

A Journey with Mark: The 50 Day Bible Challenge
Take a journey through the Gospel of Mark with fifty days of scripture readings, meditations, questions, and prayers. Dynamic spiritual leaders and authors serve as guides, writing from around the world. A Journey with Mark is an extension of The Bible Challenge, a global initiative to encourage daily engagement with scripture and an exploration of the Word of God. **This liturgical year follows the Gospel of Mark and The Good Book Club will be reading through this gospel this Epiphany.**

Any one of these beautiful prayer books makes a special gift:
Hour by Hour
Prayers New and Old
Prayers for All Occasions

 

Broken
In essays both humorous and achingly vulnerable, author Ryan Casey Waller urges us to join him in pouring out our brokenness, not just to God but to each other. Waller takes us through the trials of following Jesus during seasons of doubt and disbelief, anger, shame, and even hate, but always brings us back to the amazing news that Jesus blessed the bread before he broke it.

Pathways of Faith: An All-Ages Coloring Book
A coloring book for all ages—but especially for adults who may have forgotten the simple joys of creating—Pathways of Faith offers a respite from busyness and daily demands. Relax and restore as you spend time coloring these original illustrations that capture the amazing stories of the Bible and God’s love for us. Come and spend some creative, refreshing time with God. The Lord knows we need it!

The Social Justice Bible Challenge:
A 40 Day Bible Challenge
Featuring forty days of reflections by spiritual leaders and writers from around the world, The Social Justice Bible Challenge is an extension of The Bible Challenge, a global initiative to encourage daily engagement with scripture and an exploration of the Word of God. Disciples wishing to spend more time engaging the Bible on topics from poverty, hunger, displacement, and the care of widows and orphans will have their cups filled over and over again by the words of Scripture and meditations from people across the Church who engage with these realities each and every day.

Stocking stuffers:

            

Lent Madness Fanatics

        

Gift Ideas for a Blessed Christmas & a Holy New Year

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A few Forward Movement gift ideas to support and inspire your loved ones in 2020. For standard shipping, please order by December 11th.

Saint Augustine’s Prayer Book
Saint Augustine’s Prayer Book is a book of prayer and practice —with disciplines, habits, and patterns for building a Christian spiritual life. It will help you to develop strong habits of prayer, to prepare for and participate in public liturgy thoughtfully, and to nurture a mind and soul ready to work and give and pray for the spread of the kingdom. Comes leather-bound (black) with two ribbons in a gift box.

The Way of Love Bible Challenge
Way of Love Bible ChallengeWith seven core spiritual practices, the Way of Love offers an intentional, Spirit-led path to following Jesus. And what better guidebook for the journey than the Bible? The Way of Love Bible Challenge pairs each practice with a passage of scripture as well as reflections, questions, and prayers written by a variety of faith leaders. Come and see what God has to say about the spiritual practices of Turn – Learn – Pray – Worship – Bless – Go – Rest.

 

Sing to the Lord
A great gift for the music lover in your life! Richard H. Schmidt’s meditations on forty classic hymns remind us of a shared faith—by generations before and with generations to come. Though the words and tunes may be entrenched in memory, Schmidt sheds new light on these hymns, inviting us to think about the texts through various lenses of scripture, faith, and personal experience. His reflections are painstakingly honest about how and when he has come up short as a follower of Christ—as well as how each time, he finds notes of forgiveness, love, and hope in these familiar songs.

Angels of the Bible
Episcopal priest Kate Moorehead invites us into a more dynamic understanding of the realm of the angels. Her devotions recount fifty key appearances of angels in the Old and New Testaments as she shares stirring theological reflections on the presence of angels and our life of faith.

In addition, the book features 56 full-color pages with depictions of angels throughout history. Art professor and scholar P. Scott Brown offers historical and theological context for these paintings of pivotal angelic appearances, including the Annunciation, the Celestial Hierarchy, and the Final Battle from Revelation.

Faith and Courage
In this powerful and poignant memoir, Archbishop Makgoba explores how the struggles of his ancestors shape his life today, how growing up in apartheid South Africa fuels his desire for justice, and how faith compels him to champion the difficult work of reconciliation. These lessons of faith and courage provide insight for audiences around the world, for all people who care about Jesus’ commandment to love one another.

Note to Self
Note to SelfThis 2019 Illumination Book Award Winner focuses on creating a “Rule of Life”—an ancient method for building soul memory, and offering reminders to ourselves of the person we hope to be—it is a practice of training your mind and soul to be kind and good.

Creating your own rule of life is grace that only you can offer to yourself, helping remind you to live the life you desire, and the life God wishes for you. Join author and Episcopal priest Charles LaFond as he guides you through the wisdom, creation, and application of your own Rule of Life.

Gifts of God
Gifts of God bookEpiscopal priest Furman L. Buchanan explores and reflects on each element of Holy Eucharist, the service most often held on Sunday mornings. Moving from the first spoken word of the service—blessed—to the last phrase—Thanks be to God—Buchanan explains the theological and scriptural elements of the service, helping newcomers and longtime members alike gain a deeper understanding of this gift of God.

Buchanan also shares his own stories, connecting pivotal life experiences with the words and actions of Holy Eucharist. Thoughtful questions at the end of each chapter invite readers to reflect on their own stories and how they connect with God’s story of love and life.

And finally…stocking stuffers for the Lent Madness fan in your life!

Gifts for your Grad

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We’ve put together a few gift ideas for your new graduate! This list includes resources that will comfort, inspire, and rejuvenate your grad. And of course, a coffee mug!

Saint Augustine's Prayer BookSaint Augustine’s Prayer Book 
“This is a must-have prayer book. It is the perfect companion, easy to carry, travels well and has such wonderful prayers and wisdom for daily life. I think if you have one prayer book only, this is the one to have. It is beautiful, leather-bound, gold cross accompanies a Book of Common Prayer or Missal well. The preparation prayers of holy eucharist are really good so it is always with me at service too. I glad I bought it and I think it will also make a great gift.” -Rob Nelson

Pathway coverPathways of Faith: An All-Ages Coloring Book
A coloring book for all ages—but especially for adults who may have forgotten the simple joys of creating—Pathways of Faith offers a respite from busyness and daily demands. Relax and restore as you spend time coloring these original illustrations that capture the amazing stories of the Bible and God’s love for us. Come and spend some creative, refreshing time with God. The Lord knows we need it!

Inside the book Faith with a TwistFaith with a Twist
Take time to relax and restore your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being with Faith with a Twist. This resource connects the traditional eight limbs of yoga with the church’s understanding and emphasis on living a holy life. This approach creates a unique blend of spiritual practices and religious wisdom that are perfect for the yoga novice and the experienced practitioner alike.

The Social Justice Bible ChallengeThe Social Justice Bible Challenge
Disciples wishing to spend more time engaging the Bible on topics from poverty, hunger, displacement, and the care of widows and orphans will have their cups filled over and over again by the words of Scripture and meditations from people across the Church who engage with these realities each and every day. Bridging the gap between knowing the Bible and living it, The Social Justice Bible Challenge is for those seeking to deeply engaged in scripture, and connect their compassion to God’s Word.

Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter
“I’m forever changed by this book, and I’m only up to Kings. I had no idea of the suffering, loyalty, bravery, heartache, confidence of those women. WOW. It’s hard to read the stories and their words. Very humbling.” -Leigh Parmer

Lent Madness Travel Mug
Take your coffee, tea, and Lent Madness spirit on the go with this 15oz travel mug!

The Twible:
All the Chapters of the Bible in 140 Characters or Less…Now with 68% More Humor!
The Twible brings you every chapter as tweeted in 140 characters or less, from Genesis to Revelation! From start to finish, it brings the Bible to wonderful, wicked, weird life.

Spiritual Gifts for the New Year

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For the Beauty of the EarthFor the Beauty of the Earth
Join watercolor artist Kathrin Burleson and diverse voices from across The Episcopal Church in exploring the wonders of Creation and the beauty of the Creator. Burleson’s Creation-inspired watercolors offer inspiring visualizations that enhance the book’s 365 daily meditations, written by authors like Minda Cox, Jason Leo, Mary W. Cox, Bishop Barry Beisner, and many others.

Note to SelfNote to Self
Discover what God has written onto your heart. What do you want for your life? Who do you want to be in your life, and how do you want to live? We humans need reminders, and when it comes to making a consistent effort to be better people, it’s important to have constant reminders. A “Rule of Life” is an ancient method for building soul memory, and offering reminders to ourselves of the person we hope to be—it is a practice of training your mind and soul to be kind and good.

Walk in Love
Take a journey through The Book of Common Prayer, the Christian life, and basic beliefs of our faith, guided by two Episcopal priests – Scott Gunn and Melody Wilson Shobe. Walk through the liturgical year, the sacraments of the church, habits of daily prayer, and the teachings of Anglican Christianity. See how our prayer shapes our belief and our lives and how our beliefs lead us into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.

Anden en amor
Anden en AmorEn este libro dos sacerdotes episcopales (Scott Gunn y Melody Wilson Shobe) nos hacen recorrer El Libro de Oración Común, la vida cristiana y las creencias básicas de nuestra fe. Este libro explora el año litúrgico, los sacramentos de la iglesia, los hábitos de la oración diaria, y las enseñanzas del cristianismo anglicano. Descubre cómo la oración forma nuestras creencias y cómo nuestras creencias nos conducen a una relación más profunda con Jesucristo.

Jacob's LadderThe Spy at Jacob’s Ladder
From the author who introduced you to The Spy on Noah’s Ark, this collection of stories, told from the inside out, are sure to stir up your heart and mind as you read along, meeting old friends and making new ones. You are invited to be a spy too at some of the most beloved stories of the Bible, placing yourself as participant and witness to God’s unfolding and unfailing grace and love. Ages 7-12—Perfect for emerging readers as well as for adults and children to read along together.

More children’s books:
The Spy on Noah’s Ark
The Bible Spy Series
The Path: Family Storybook
Meet the Saints: Family Storybook

DevocionesDevociones del Pueblo de Dios
Este devocionario recoge unas trescientas oraciones, la mayoría de ellas del Libro de Oración Común. Son oraciones y devociones apropiadas para casi toda situación en la vida. Son válidas para todo hispano o latino de cualquier tradición. El devocionario tiene ocho secciones, devociones tradicionales (el rosario y el vía crucis); una selección de salmos; oraciones por los enfermos y en el momento de la muerte; por la nación, la sociedad y la creación; por la vida familiar y personal; y varias oraciones de acción de gracias, además de una letanía. Al inicio del libro, un amplio índice ayuda al lector a encontrar fácilmente la oración que busca.

Otros productos en español.
Alegra nuestro espíritu, haz seguro nuestro camino
El Movimiento de Jesús en la Iglesia Episcopal
Somos la rama episcopal del Movimiento de Jesús (Etiquetas autoadhesivas)

A few more ideas:
For the practicing yogi in your life: Faith with a Twist
Reading the Bible in 2019?: The Path or La Senda
For Lent Madness enthusiasts: Saintly Scorecard and Lent Madness Bracket